Aᵃ-effect : suburban domesticity and the in-between as space of activity

This dissertation demonstrates the contemporary relevance of Brechtian critical and performative method within architectural studies. The significance of Brechtian criticality is given an extra impetus by Lieven De Cauter’s more recent theory of “capsular civilisation” and Jean Baudrillard’s concept of “Integral Reality.” Brecht’s thesis proposes that nothing is a given, definite situation, but rather that everything ranging from the human condition to social situations consist of ever-changing ensembles. This Brechtian perceptual pattern (an adaptation of his A-effect), suggests the spectator and user are equally capable of altering and working the areas in-between sociopolitico- cultural polarities, even the interiorities and hetero-topologies of contemporary civilisation. The current study discusses some spatial dyads related to domesticity, ‘urbansuburban,’ ‘in-out,’ and ‘prototype-counterfeit,’ in relation to the more generic oppositions, ‘subject-object,’ ‘chaos-definition,’ and ‘organism-surroundings.’ The elaboration of some relational and spatial considerations of the A-effect in scenes of suburban domesticity attempts to foreground the in-between area as a space of activity within architectural theory and practice